Breeze of the Nights
On our way, we went to a convenience store to buy ourselves a midnight snack. I bought a bag of chips while Hick had some Skittles, which she gulped each one. I stared at her, hoping she won't choke on her candy, like last time at the park.
Luckily, she didn't.
It read 11:27 PM on my phone screen and the attraction was just a two blocks away. Good, we came early. As we walked closer, I can hear Hikari giggle a bit, then pointed ahead, where Austin was standing. He gave us a friendly wave, and Hick waved back as I merely looked at the building it front of us.
"Schmidt! Morizaki! Nice to see ya both!" greeted Austin as we walked to him, a smirk on his face. "Been a while, huh?"
Hick nodded and I just ignored him.
"Well.." he started a bit awkwardly. "Huh, I'm gonna leave you guys a message tomorrow night, since I won't be there. Um... All the info will there, so you won't get too lost. Sounds good?"
She nodded again as sign of approval.
Austin grinned then waved as he walked away from us. That creep...
Austin Fitzgerald, son of Jeremy and Francesca Fitzgerald. This little critter was born in August 14th 1997 (he would be 20 soon). He's also a man in the average (the same height as Kevin, btw). He has long white hair (not old people hair!) past his shoulders, which he sometimes ties it in a ponytail, orange colored eyes and a bit of tan skin (with all the trips he's been to Hawaii). Austin is pretty much a carefree dude, never thinking about the consequences, but still a pretty good guy. Not much history, except for the fact that he kept on uncovering the unsolved mysteries of the abandoned pizzeria.
Now, as you all see, he's clearly on the right tracks, finding old relics and will be opening the horror attraction on July 2th, in exactly one week's time. Back to the story, chums!
As we placed our stuff on the desk in front of us, I realized what creepy ass shit was in here. Not much though...
Three toys lined up on the desk, a bear wearing a top and a bow, a duck (ahem chicken) with a bib saying 'Let's Party!', and a blue bunny who had its green eyes looking at particularly nothing. Right in front of Hikari lies a box of what looks like toy-like masks, almost seeming brand new, and a paper plate doll accompanied with a hook. A hook man... There were a few posters on the wall with the same characters that were on the old desk. I was looking at them when Hikari stood up and starting poking the paper on the wall. She was smiling and giggled a bit like a child.
"Hikari..." I sighed, trying to search for the camera."What are doin-"
I was cut off when we heard a squeak-like sound. Hick turned to me as she was backing away to reveal her finger pressed on the bear's nose. I was a bit taken aback, but soon brought myself my composer.
"Guess they'll be more stuff like that..." I muttered. Hikari then looked around to find a seat close to the vent behind me. She picked it up, placed it to my left to where I was sitting and finally taking laying herself right next to me.
Hikari noticed that I was still looking for that goddamn camera, so she pointed at my right. I glanced at her hand's direction and saw that it was on the wall. I face palmed myself for my stupidity and scowled. How could I be any blinder?! It was right at my face where I can perfectly see it! Hick chuckled a bit at my frustration. At least somebody's having fun here...
I looked at the time where it read 12:20 AM.
This might take a while. And my beauty sleep- Wait what?! No way I'm resting after that corpse party!
Anyway, after finding out the mechanics of the security monitor, I motioned at Hikari to check the reboot system in her hand. Everything seems fine. I felt Hick shaking, as if ready to burst out of her seat. She was definitely up for some treasure hunting, as she was looking at me with eager eyes, as if a child begging for some candy. I got the message and held up the monitor.
"You can go" I started. She quickly got up, but I snatched her arm before leaving the room, not too tightly though. She looked at me curious as I continued, only more sternly this time. "But don't go out of the cameras' view, okay?"
Hikari smiled with a happy "Hai" accompanied with, as I let her go. I looked at the window of the hallway where she was running, her footsteps echoing through the building. She paused at a few moments, inspecting what so little decoration was there, 'ohhh's and 'ahhh's escaping her small mouth, as heard from the camera's audio. Eventually, she stopped at CAM 06 where I could see an arcade machine gone static. She tried to reboot it by kicking it to the sides, but failed. That's when I realized there was faulty wiring on the floor, surrounding Hick. I really fucking hope Austin would see to that, those wires could easily catch fire if tripped over. Seems that she noticed that too, as she carefully made her way back to the office, watching her every step.
I looked at my phone and saw it was already 6AM. Man, that sure went fast! Hick just enter the office when I was about to call we're leaving. She picked up her stuff and shoot me a cheerful glance. She seemed ready enough. I did the same and we both exited the old pizzeria. While in our way out, I swore I could hear some faint scratching.
Scrintch, scatch, bunk
Scritch, scratch, bunk
Scritch , scratch, bunk
I would believe it could be rats for the scritch and scratches, but nothing could explain the bunk... It's as if something was knocking, or in this case banging, on a wall. Even if it's almost undetectable, I could clearly hear those silent sounds, and it gives me shivers on my spine. I don't think Hikari even acknowledged them.
Anyway we walked back home and went to our own apartment rooms. As soon as I closed the door, I ran to my room and plumped myself on my bed.
At that time, I could care less about staying awake. I was exhausted! But if it wasn't for my tiredness, it would have made a terrible mistake.
I was in the dark again, colder than ever, as I was engulfed by shadows once again. But this time, I wasn't alone...
There was a light bulb shining upon 'something' as I heard the same sounds from earlier.
SCHRITCH, SCRATCH, BUNK!
SCHRITCH, SCRATCH, BUNK!
SCHRITCH, SCRATCH, BUNK!
They were almost deafening, as I felt my heart pounding in my head and thick liquid pouring out of my ears. Simple noises like those are not supposed that LOUD!
That's when I noticed I was in a small room, where I was slumped in the darkest corner. I also saw 3 arcade machines all in a row going static, just earlier with Hick. But what horrified me the most, was the 'thing' sitting, or rather twitching and convulsing uncontrollably, across the dark room, where was lit. I soon realized the racket came from 'it'. 'It's damaged appearance made me want to gag my chips out.
If I was correct, that 'thing' looked most likely robotic (Cathy would call it an animatronic), bunny to be precise. The whole 'thing' was tattered and from head to toe, with a dirty yellowish color and gaping holes exposing caging & wires throughout. It was also screeching in a painful and inhuman matter. From what I could say, it's the most macabre looking thing I've ever seen in my whole life. But I noticed red fluids rushing from the rabbit in front of me.
Blood. It's surrounded by its own blood...
"It's me" I heard someone whisper.
Suddenly out of nowhere, I felt a hand snatching my face, trying to crush it with brute force. It almost feels as if my eyeballs would either explode upon impact, creating a soup-like substance, or simply pop out from their sockets of my skull. Another hand got a grip on my neck, squeezing all the oxygen I had, as they dug their sharp nails into my skin, piercing it like paper.
The agony cursing my dream, along with the deafening screams and scratches, was excruciating torture for me. I was unable to escape their hold. The more I try, the more I choked myself to my doom. But then I felt something wet dripping on my hair, and heard faint sniffling.
Tears..?
The grip on my face and throat softened, yet still firm. I felt their bodies brushing against me, as if leaning for a hug. Their hair cascading on my face, as the tears were staining my petrified face.
What's going on? Who is this? I barely noticed the twitching animatronic and placed my attention to the one sobbing on me. Oh god...
"I'm sorry.." uttered a silent voice. "I'm sorry I couldn't come back..." More sobbing and sniffling.
I shifted my eyes to the 'thing' that was with us. It's dead gaze fixed upon the person imprisoning me in their arms, almost taking pity on them.
I felt some wet cloth placed on my forehead as finally woke up.
Just like the night before, I got up and screamed my lungs out when I felt a shaky yet fragile hand on my shoulder. I immediately calmed and glanced at owner of the hand.
"Kevin-chan!" squealed a voice.
"Hick?..." I muttered weakly.
She gazed at me with a concerned look as she pulled out an empty bucket. I took it without hesitation and puked everything I ate, including some disgusting stomach acid that made me want to throw up even more. Hikari had her nails in her mouth, munching them the entire time. When I put the bucket away, she gave me a glass of water for me to drink. Once I was done, I looked at Hick as she was still chewing on the tip of her hand.
"Hikari" I started in a frail voice, earning her attention. "What time is it?"
She immediately answered, "Nana" (If u have no idea wat it means, it's Japanese for seven)
I knew she meant it was about 7:00 PM (I learned some words in Japanese in our school years) , so we still have 4 hours before leaving for work.
How Hikari got into my apartment? Easy! I made spare keys for her if anything happens. Now knowing they're serving their purpose, I mentally thanked my dad for suggesting the idea.
She then took my hand with both of hers and gave me that 'What happened?' look on her freaked out face. Knowing she would wait patiently for an answer, it serves for nothing hiding the truth. I took a long and steady sigh and looked at her straight in the eyes.
"Would it be childish if I told you I had nightmares since yesterday?" I asked, as I laughed dryly. She tilted her head to the side, pondering if it is, given the fact it's me where talking about. Of course... "Well... It started with darkness, nothing but that... then mangled corpses... my sister and-"
I realized I was raising my voice when Hick slightly squeezed my hand to cool me down. I took a deep breath and continued.
"That was the night before we worked." I sighed.
After a few minutes of explaining, and some vomiting later, I finally got the strength to get up, preparing myself for the night. And of course, Hick was already set for work and made me some coffee to bring at work.
"Ready?" she asked, her face always beaming.
I grabbed my phone and gave Hikari a glance of determination and smirked.
"Ready Freddy."
"Hey-hey! Glad you came back for another night! I promise it'll be more interesting this time! We found some new relics over the weekend.-"
Kind of right about that. As we entered, we noticed a few new props here and there, like that new duck head on the floor... or these new posters on the halls. Good thing Austin recorded all of this shit, otherwise Hick would be asking questions by now. In the meantime, she remained quiet, listening what the recorder has to say. I was simply shifting from camera to camera, checking the place from the office.
"-And we're out tracking down a new lead, right now. So lemme just update real quick, then you can get to work.-"
Little did I know, we were gonna be listening for some Austin Radio for hours, yeah right, quick update man... He was a pretty talkative guy once you know him. I wonder why he had to skip yesterday... Meh, no matter!
"Like, the attraction in like a week. So we had to make sure everything works, and nothing catches fire!-"
As if I didn't know that already, I mentally grumbled.
"-Uh-when the place opens, people will come in at the opposite end of the building, and work their way towards you, then passed you and out the exit."
Wait what!? I checked CAM3 and noticed there was a "Play Audio" thing that I can press on. As soon as I did, the echo of a 'Hello' was heard through the whole place, specifically the cam I was on. Hikari then jumped of her seat and ran to where CAM3 was. She was a bit disappointed after finding nothing there, and went back to the office.
So that's how I would avoid people, probably how Austin planned-wait... WHAT AUSTIN PLANNED?!
"-Uh-yeah. You've officially become a part of the attraction. Uh-You'll be starring as... The security guard! So not only will you be monitoring the people on the cameras as they pass through, y'know, to make sure no one steals anything or makes out in the corner, but you'll also be a part of the show.-"
I felt my eye twitch as I glared at the recorder. Me? Part of the show? THIS WASN'T PART OF THE CONTRACT! As I was fuming, Hick was daydreaming her uncle being proud of her and giving a pat on her shoulder. Man... This girl sees pink everywhere, even in this rotting place. I calmed down a bit by drinking my coffee in a thermos mug, still warm from earlier, strangely.
"-It'll make it feel authentic I think. Uh... Now let me tell you about what's new. We found another set of drawings. Always nice. And a Foxy head Which we think to be authentic, then again it might just be another crappy cosplay, and we found a desk fan, very old school. Metal though. So watch to fingers. Uh-heh-"
I inspected the fan, where it read in black marker color: 'Mike S. was here'... Did dad work as night guard before? Well, from what I could say from here, he wasn't that much from me in his younger years...
"-Uh... Right now the place is basically just-you know... Flashing lights, spooky props, uh, I honestly thought we would have more by now, uh, we don't have something really cool by next week,-"
"Then keep looking!" I exclaimed, startling Hikari, who was still holding the reboot system and almost dropped it.
"-we may have to suit you up in a furry suit, and make you walk around saying 'Boo'... hehe-"
FUCK NO! And again, this wasn't part of the contract! I heard Hick squealing in joy. I could clearly imagine her in a white bunny suit, but not me! No thanks!
"-uh... But, you know, like I said we're trying to track down a good lead right now. Uh, some guy who helped me design one of the buildings says there was like, an extra room that got boarded up or something like that.-"
I tensed up at the revelation of an 'extra room'. If I was correct, the sounds were most likely coming from there. I can still hear the roaring scratches echoing through my mind, and the faint scritch of that same resonance. That or I really need to see a therapist, if I wanted to...
"-So, we're gonna take a peek and see what we can find. Uh, for now just get comfortable with the new setup, um... You can check the security cameras over to your right, with a click of that blue button. Uh you can toggle between the hall cams and the vent cams.-"
"Check" I said out loud.
"-Uh, then over to your far left, uh, you can flip up your maintenance panel. Y'know use this to reboot any systems that may go offline.-"
"Uh-huh!" Hikari exclaimed, holding the panel triumphly. She may not know much about machines, but she's not stupid either.
"-Heh. So, in trying to make the place feel vintage we may have overdone it a bit, hehe... Some of this equipment is barely functional.-"
I let my head drop on the chair and let out a grumble. So basically, we were given all of this stupid shit that hardly works anymore and seeing some dumb hallucinations. As if my nightmares weren't enough! Yeah, good job Mr. Fitzies! Is it me or was Austin literally talking for hours!? While I was sulking about the news, Hick took out a black marker and wrote 'Hick wuz here!' right next to the other text.
And what about the fire!?
"-Yeah, I wasn't joking about the fire. Tha-tha-that's a real risk.-"
"Thank you!" I sighed, exasperated. At least he noticed that!
"-Uh, the most important thing you want to watch for, is the ventilation. Look this place will give you the spooks, man, and if you let that ventilation go offline, then you'll start seeing crazy stuff some crazy stuff, man.-"
"Yay! More spooks!" I cheered sarcastically, earning a playful shove from Hikari, who was staring at the door vent (or whatever it's called) right at the back of my chair. I seriously hadn't notice that... I moved away from it, hoping nobody would get me from behind.
"-Keep that air flowin'. Okay, keep an eye on things, and we'll try to have something new for tomorrow night," And then the recorded message ended.
Wow, not even a goodbye... We just sat there until I checked the time on my phone, where it read 4:15AM. Heh, so I was right when I said he was talking for hours.
"I don't think I what something new..." I finally said, breaking the silence of the room.
It's true. Those bloody scenes were still stuck in my mind like cement and I can almost feel the same agony from last time. I then felt something leaning on my shoulder. Hikari was sleeping soundly on my side, also emitting small snores once in a while. She must be tired from Austin's 'explanation'. For the rest of the shift, I checked the cameras when I stumbled upon something odd. In CAM10, instead of a bear on the poster, there was a seemingly golden bunny. I gulped, it's probably one of those damn hallucinations Fitzgerald was talking about... Right?...
Before I can process my next though, the alarm went off, signaling it's 6AM. Hick fluttered her eyes open, and getting up from her sleep. She let out a tired yawn while grabbing her bag and nudging my arm meaning she was ready to go.
As were heading for the exit, we heard some faint static, coming from one of the rooms. Hikari pulled my sleeve at the direction of the noise. I let her lead us through the hallway (I recognized we were at where CAM5 is supposed to be), and we saw the cause of the static.
The arcade machine...
"Nani?..." Hick muttered, stunned at what laid in the far end. I too, was taken aback.
She then broke into a run and I dashed after her while shouting 'Wait!', until we arrived at our destination. As soon as we did, the machine looked like it was loading and suddenly there popped three 8-bit animals (a duck/chicken, a bear and a rabbit), all standing on a stage. Hikari, who was right in front of the screen while I was behind her, was taken by curiosity and started controlling the bear on the scrapped screen of the device. She was then following a purple bear and said in the text below 'Follow Me'. She followed it until she reached at an entry way where it says 'Error'. Hick's sprite was moving to the next room, but without any warning, a purple sprite sprinted to it and dismantled it. The screen went static and turned itself off as if nothing ever happened.
We looked at each other, both equally astonished. We walked back home and we slept in our own bed.
This time, I was ready what was coming next...
I am still looking for you.
Little Brother.
The only thing I remember...
Is my agony.
I decided publishing the prologue and the first chapter the same day, cause... WHY NOT?! It'll give you a piece of mind of what the story is talking about. So expect some more chapters to come!
As always, enjoy!